BLOOMINGTON
Seymour’s boys basketball team never got its offense going Saturday night, scoring a season-low number of points in a 49-27 loss to Bloomington South.
The Owls were limited to two points in the second quarter and scored just eight in the first half. Bloomington South happily took advantage of that slow start, scoring 17 second-quarter points and putting the game away by halftime.
“The second quarter really got away from us,” Seymour coach Kirk Manns said. “We came out with the energy to allow us to be successful, but we also gave the ball away.”
Seymour turned the ball over 15 times, seven times in the first half. Bloomington South, by comparison, had just five turnovers in the game and played error-free basketball during the decisive second quarter.
“They don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Manns said. “Our guys need to learn from that. Tonight was a learning experience.”
Before Saturday, the Owls’ previous low output this season was 33 in a loss to Beech Grove.
Though their offense struggled, the Owls started well defensively while limiting Bloomington South to seven first-quarter points. The Owls were down by only a point when the Panthers started their second-quarter run.
Senior Joey Bomba drained three 3-pointers to power a 17-2 run that gave South a 24-8 lead at the half. The Panthers ended with nine 3s and shot 52 percent from the field.
“They’re by far the best shooting team we’ve seen this year,” Manns said.
The Owls opened the third quarter with a brief 7-3 run. Later, on the first possession of the fourth quarter, junior Andrew Levine buried a 3-pointer from the top of the lane to pull Seymour to within 12 points of the Panthers.
South, however, responded by constructing a 14-2 run to quash any remaining hopes of an Owl comeback.
“The good news is I’m not disappointed with our effort,” Manns said. “We have to continue to work. We’ve got to be better today than we were yesterday. We’ll take a look at this game and see what we did wrong and make the necessary corrections, but effort wasn’t the problem tonight.”
Levine and Marcus Brooks each finished with a team-high sixd points. Casey Regruth pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.
Bloomington South was led by senior Trevor Taylor, who scored 15 points, and Bomba, who ended with 14.
Formerly yearly opponents, Saturday’s game was the first meeting between Seymour and South since 2008. This year’s game was scheduled after both schools had games with Bloomington North postponed.
Box score
At Bloomington
Bloomington South 49, Seymour 27
Seymour;6;2;9;10;—;27
Bloomington South;7;17;8;17;—;49
Seymour (5-6): Andrew Levine 2 0-0 6, Marcus Brooks 3 0-0 6, Casey Regruth 2 0-0 4, Eli Meyer 1 2-2 4, Bret Perry 1 0-0 3, Landon Fritsch 1 0-0 2, Charlie Longmeier 0 2-2 2, Dylan Fields 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 4-4 27.
Bloomington South (9-4): Trevor Taylor 5 4-6 15, Joey Bomba 5 1-1 14, Jalen Peck 2 0-0 6, Coleman Oliphant 1 1-2 4, William Schultz 1 0-0 3, Noah Ransom 1 0-0 3, Patrick Joyce 1 0-0 2, Gabe Roberts 1 0-0 2, Maddix Blackwell 0 0-0 0, Jordan Abner 0 0-0 0, Sam Kestranek 0 0-0 0, Connor Coyne 0 0-0 0, Brady Simpson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 6-9 49.
3-point goals: Seymour (Levine 2, Perry), Bloomington South (Bomba 3, Peck 2, Taylor, Ransom, Oliphant, Schultz)
Rebounds: Seymour 19 (Regruth 7, Brooks 3, Levine 2, Meyer 2, Fields 2, Fritsch, Longmeier, Team 1), Bloomington South 17 (Taylor 6)
Turnovers: Seymour 15, Bloomington South 5
Fouls: Seymour 12, Bloomington South 11
Junior varsity
Bloomington South 52, Seymour 28
Seymour: Donovyn Thomas 13, Bret Perry 6, Will Cottrill 4, A.J. Harrell 4, Jack Pennington 1.